The invention relates to a clamping device and method and, more particularly, to a clamping device which can be fastened quickly and securely to many types of fixtures for the purpose of holding and controlling hoses, such as those used to discharge medical waste fluids into fixtures in a sanitary manner.
This invention can be utilized in any circumstance in which a person is trying to control hoses or cables, including, but not limited to use in the medical field. Every day a large number of dialysis procedures are performed in the hospital or subacute setting. Dialysis is a medical procedure performed on patients whose kidneys are not functioning properly or at all. Kidney failure results in a build up of wastes within the human body which can seriously endanger the health of a person or be life threatening. Dialysis technology, which is a medically administered process utilizing complex machinery, replicates the function of kidneys by external means and has developed into two types of treatment: Hemodialysis and Peritoneal dialysis.
Hemodialysis is the more common process utilized and involves circulating a patients blood outside of the body through a membrane filter via a medical machine which cleans the blood of wastes and returns the blood to the patient. The machine which is used to filter or treat a patients blood is called a hemodialysis instrument machine. During this process, the machine emits a waste fluid which needs to be safely controlled and disposed of properly. This fluid is conveyed via hoses to a waste receptacle, namely, a suitable sink, toilet, or combination thereof.
The other type of treatment, called peritoneal dialysis, uses the patients own membrane, which is called a peritoneal membrane, as a filter. The peritoneal membrane is a semi-permeable membrane similar to a sac which is located in a persons abdomen area. This membrane allows waste particles to permeate it, but prevents larger blood cells to permeate the membrane. In Peritoneal dialysis, a patient has a catheter surgically implanted into the abdominal wall which is used to transmit necessary fluids into a persons abdomen for the purpose of filtering the blood and is used to transmit waste fluids from the body to a suitable waste receptacle such as a suitable sink, toilet, or combination thereof.
Although both methods offer distinct advantages and disadvantages depending on individual patient circumstances, either method will generate waste fluids which need to be controlled and disposed of in a sanitary way. These fluids can contain pathogenic microorganisms including but not limited to: Hepatitis b, c, d viruses, HIV viruses, and potentially to a variety of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. Spilling of such fluids can contaminate and infect floors, medical equipment, and fixtures. Not only is this unsanitary, but also poses a health risk to other patients and medical personnel. The potential for the spread of disease is profound. These infectious materials can lie dormant or be absorbed into other materials and later transmitted to other areas or people posing a significant health threat. Labor is diverted to clean up and control spills and relations between purveyors of the service and recipients can be strained.
Various solutions have been offered to assist in controlling medical waste hoses. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,090,180 to DiMaggio presents a waste assembly apparatus utilizing a suction cup for mounting. But with a myriad of designs, shapes, and sizes of bathroom fixtures, there may not be an adequate flat mounting surface in all settings. Also, depending on the weight and angle of the discharge hoses, variable amounts of torque would be applied to the mounting apparatus which could cause the suction cup to become disengaged. Also, suction cups can lose suction when circumstances are not ideal causing failure of the mechanism.
Another apparatus is proposed in U.S. Patent Application No. 2005/0247346 to Pentz entitled “Hose Mount” presents a hose mounting fixture. This fixture, while allowing the operator to hang a hose from a suitable surface such as an attic rafter, does not offer the ability to secure and control hoses adequately to such fixtures like sinks, toilets, and the like. The invention does not offer the ability to quickly and securely mount the unit, and the hoses are not secured in a specific direction at a specific point. This would be problematic in a medical waste discharge situation whereby the discharge hoses would need to be secured in a controlled manner spatially in order to prevent spillage.
Therefore, what is needed is an apparatus and method for quickly and securely mounting hoses or cables to a multitude of surfaces and one which the risk of failure is extraordinarily low due to the health risks associated with a failure. The present invention eliminates the drawbacks associated with prior art and provides a new and alternative apparatus which can be used to quickly attach to a multitude of surfaces and offers a secure mounting mechanism which is unlikely to disengage when mounted and offers the user a means to securely hold hoses or cables in a secure way to prevent their disengagement during use.